Best Hummingbird Houses

Like some other species of birds, such as Northern Mockingbirds, Catbirds, Cardinals or Orioles, Hummingbirds normally do not fancy birdhouses for shelter and they will almost never use any kind of man-made structure for nesting. There are some exceptions to this. For instance, Blue-throated hummingbirds are known to build their nests on electric wires, on the inside of porch lamps and on top of poles or other garden decorations. Then there are Broad-billed hummingbirds who regularly build their nests on clotheslines. However, these are still exceptions and a large majority of hummingbird species that are found in the US prefer to build their nests among trees and shrubs and will commonly give any man-made nesting structure a wide berth.

Having said that, it is still not impossible to lure a hummingbird to build her nest in your backyard garden space. However, for that to happen, you need to provide the birds with ideal habitat and nesting environment. It is, after all, a great experience for all hummingbird lovers to be able to watch from up close a mother hummingbird building her nest and raising her young. And in addition to providing an ideal natural habitat, you can actually increase the chances of making a hummingbird construct its nest around your house and backyard by installing some nesting platform, coupled with easy access to nest-building materials.

Over the years, a few hummingbird experts who have closely observed the behavioral patterns of these birds, have engineered some well thought out structures that you can install at certain parts of your home to tempt the birds to build their nests there. The birds will still build their nests by themselves, but with these nesting platforms or contraptions set at your home, you won’t have to go hunting for a hummingbird nest in the woods! In the following review section of this article, we list some of these products as well as a couple of traditional birdhouse structures that, with some luck, hummingbirds may use as temporary shelters.

Top 5 Hummingbird Houses and Nesters

1. Hand Woven Hanging Audubon Birdhouse

Price: $20.99 (set of 3)

This teardrop shaped small birdhouses are hand-woven from dried natural hibiscus grass. They are strong and breathable environment-friendly products made of 100% natural material. No chemicals are used in making the products, so the birds will stay completely safe inside these birdhouses. The teardrop design makes for enough floor or bottom space, so if the hummingbirds do take refuge in them, they will never be cramped for space. The size of this birdhouse is approximately 4.5 x 4.5 x 8.7 inches and the size of the hole is about 1.6 x 1.8 inches. The natural grass used for the product makes sure that the house is well-ventilated and is good at dredging rain and in dissipating heat. You can hang these birdhouses directly from the trees or from other suitable fixtures at your backyard.

Pros & Cons

Pros
• These birdhouses are suitable not only for hummingbirds but for other small songbirds as well. So, you may well expect Chickadees, House Wrens, Titmice or Finches to roost inside these structures.
• The natural rough texture of the material is able to withstand the frictions caused by the birds’ paws and this makes the structures both stable and durable.
• The buyers are backed by good customer service and a 100% refund policy.
• The attractive design of the products makes them suitable for other uses as well and you can use them for indoor/outdoor decoration, outdoor gardening, for planting flowers, as storage and also as attractive gifts.

Cons
• There is not much to say against these well-constructed products. The only snag is that if you are buying them exclusively as Hummingbird houses, you may get disappointed since there is no guarantee that the hummers will use them as shelters or for roosting.

2. Kimdio Hand Woven Hummingbird Hut For Outside Hanging

Price: $14.99

Both in terms of functionality and design, this product is almost identical to the one we reviewed above. Made from sustainably sourced, 100% hand woven natural grass, this drop design next box will act as a cozy resting place for a number of small birds where they can be out of harm from cold, storms, rain, biting wind as well as from a variety of predators. You can hang it from tree branches where the natural grass material will seamlessly blend with the surroundings. Alternatively, they can be hung on the outside walls of the villa, under the eaves or at any such suitable place. The size of the box is approximately 8 2/4 x 4 2/4 inches.

Pros & Cons

Pros
• Made of natural, sustainable material.
• Attractive and functional design. Suitable for use for many other decorative purposes.
• Backed by a ‘no question asked’ Money Back Guarantee.
• Available in three other shapes as well: the corn, the mushroom and the tower.

3. Collection Etc. Rattan Globe Hummingbird Nesters

Price: $19.99 (set of 2)

Now, this product is designed to encourage hummingbirds to nest in your backyard or garden space. Hummingbirds use cotton fiber, spider silk, fluffy material from plant downs or seedpods to give the insides of their nests a soft, elastic and velvety structure. This is why these rattan balls that hold fine quality cotton inside make sense. Hung by a hemp rope, these rattan balls of 5.5 inches diameter look completely natural and effortlessly blend with the green surroundings. You can also hang them from the porch of your garden. However, bear it in mind that hanging these balls alone will not ensure that the birds will nest in your backyard. You must also make your backyard hummingbird-friendly (more on this later) to make that happen.

4. The Lakeside collection Globe Hummingbird Nesters

Price: $19.49 (set of 2)

Almost entirely identical to the above Collections Etc. product. Again, made of hemp, rattan and filled with cotton. The balls, with approx. diameters of 6 inches, are somewhat larger than those of the earlier product. Also, the balls are more irregularly shaped which add to the natural look when the balls are hung from a tree.

Pros & Cons

Pros
• Elegant design acts as a beautiful accent to your garden space.
• Lots of satisfied customer reviews.
• Some users report that in addition to hummingbirds, finches and wrens use the cotton material from these balls, too.

Cons
• Again, what with the simple materials, the product is easy to make the DIY fashion and you may thereby save some precious bucks in the process!

5. Songbird Essentials Hummer Helper Cage and Nesting

Price: $16.23

Though different in design, this product also follows the basic rationale of the last two reviewed products—which is to provide the birds with nesting material, namely cotton, and chances are they build their nest close to your home. The product looks much like a suet cage, only it is filled not with suet, but with batten-type fine-grained cotton that hummingbirds can use to build their nest. The cotton stays within a metal cage equipped with a sturdy metal hook.

Pros & Cons

Pros
• Durable metal construction.
• Pre cut refills fit for this particular product can be bought directly from the manufacturer of the product.
• Beside hummingbirds, other small birds like titmouse and goldfinches also use the material.

Cons
• The industrial design is not too aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and will not blend too well in the natural surroundings.

Hummingbird House Selection Tips

Given that hummingbirds don’t prefer birdhouses at all, there is little that can be said by way of how to choose a right hummingbird house. Even while resting, hummingbirds prefer tree branches or shrubs, especially thorny bushes and cacti, as their resting place and shelter. However, during inclement weather, such as storms or when it is pouring rain, they make take temporary shelter in a birdhouse. So, generally speaking, the first two products reviewed here should work fine for such purposes. Also, any small songbird birdhouse is equally suitable for that purpose. If the birdhouse is made of wood, just make sure that it is untreated wood.

Types of Hummingbird Houses

Well, there are hummingbird houses (if you may call them that!) and then there are Hummingbird nesters. The last three products reviewed in the above section fall in the next category. However, there is also another variation which we may call Hummingbird Nesting Platform. Just like the nester variety, these platforms are designed so that they can encourage the birds to build their nest there. We’ve not covered this type in the present review, but, if interested, you may check some of these here: https://www.duncraft.com/index/page/category/category_id/41/category_chain/1072,41/name/Hummingbird+Houses/?view_all

Hummingbird House – Top Brands

Audubon and Songbird Essentials are famous and reputed brands when it comes to all bird feeder, birdhouses and all other bird accessory products. However, when it comes to hummingbird nesting products, mention must be made of Duncraft—a brand that offers some of the finest and effective products in this category. And many of these Duncraft products are personally designed by the renowned bird expert and inventor, Dan True.

Buying vs Building your Own Hummer House

Well, buying is always convenient. But the satisfaction involved in making something yourself, even if it’s not perfect, cannot be matched by acquiring a store-bought product. Moreover, if you are building your own hummer house, you have the liberty to customize it according to what you think will work best.

Questions & Answers

What does a hummingbird live in?

While they are not hovering over flowers or your nectar feeder, hummingbirds normally live in the branches of trees, often high above the ground. During rain or windy conditions, they are known to take shelter inside dense thickets, thick bushes and shrubs, etc.

Can you make a hummingbird house?

Yes, you can. Refer to the resource provided in the preceding section on how to make a hummer house DIY fashion.

How do you get hummingbirds to nest in your yard?

By providing enough food source, a clean water source and by creating an ideal habitat for them. The last includes not only growing flowers that hummingbirds seep from and pollinate, but also growing trees that hummingbirds prefer for nesting and from where they collect their nesting materials.

What do hummingbirds do at night?

Hummingbirds are cold-blooded diurnal creatures, so they spend the nights resting and sleeping. During most of their sleeping hours, they go into a hibernation-like state known as Torpor. During these deep sleep sessions, their metabolism goes down to 1/15th of normal. During night times, you may sometime find a hummingbird hanging upside down from a tree branch and by all appearance, it may look dead to a lay person. But they are only resting and preserving energy, so don’t try to rescue them or anything!